Another promising HD300 Replacement

[mikejaner]

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/zotac-z...99-28-08-2014/
Here's a video from Zotac https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=rJGAFLuKuZk
Looks pretty neat for such a small package.

[Taddeusz]

That's pretty sweet looking. I wonder when it will be available for sale? I've looked on Newegg and Amazon and it's not there yet.

[eric3a]

Very nice. Good find.

My ideal use would probably to then have a standard USB Drive based Sage client OS, a bit like XBMCBuntu.
So install the OS from the USB drive on the machine and all codecs already work, etc...
Any problem, just reflash.
Easy upgrades too.

Eric

[Skirge01]

The size and price are quite appealing, but I'm wondering if it will be powerful enough to play back everything I need it to.

[Dargason]

It looks like this box will be available soon.

A couple of reviews:
http://www.computershopper.com/deskt...box-pico-pi320
http://liliputing.com/2014/10/first-...tober-200.html

Sounds like it would work fine as a Sage extender, though you'd probably want to get an IR receiver. It might run a little hot, but so does my HD300.

I'm really tempted to get one and play around with it, though I've never set up a PC-based client.

[KryptoNyte]

You could probably get some idea of performance by comparing to this tablet which has pretty much the same hardware:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61696

Hopefully the troubles I had with that tablet could be overcome with a wired network connection and the additional memory. I can tell you that Sage had a rough time deinterlacing the 1080i coming in from the HD-PVR.

[Dargason]

Hmm... that's interesting. My stuff is nearly all OTA, so you think this would have trouble dealing with 1080i?

I'll be using an ethernet connection, so the weak wifi shouldn't be an issue.

[KryptoNyte]

The tablet seems like it really struggles with Sage and the H.264 1080i. It feels fairly snappy otherwise, but as soon as I startup Sage, it's ... not so good. I've darn near quit using it, keeping in mind that some of it has to do with the wireless issues.

[jbuszkie]

It would be interesting to see if anyone can turn this into a sage Client...

Jim

[Dargason]

That was my intention. However, it sounds like it might have marginal performance. Since I don't really need a client right now, and because I expect many more of this type of product to appear soon, I decided I would wait for a model that can clearly handle the task.

[mikejaner]

I plan on trying this one out. I will post my results here. Maybe even a few videos.

[valnar]

If it just needs to be a Sage client, an old copy of Win7 or WinXP might be faster assuming the drivers are available for the platform. Does anyone know if it supports anything below Windows 8?

[mikejaner]

I doubt they will provide drivers for Win7, but I find 8.1 faster anyways.
Mine will not come until December. I guess they are having a hard time shipping them.

[jchiso]

I got one today. They popped up in stock at NewEgg so I grabbed one with next-day delivery. Seems to run Client rather well. XBMC flies and Slingbox Desktop performs as expected. This will make a great travel companion ...

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by jchiso

I got one today. They popped up in stock at NewEgg so I grabbed one with next-day delivery. Seems to run Client rather well. XBMC flies and Slingbox Desktop performs as expected. This will make a great travel companion ...

You lucky sonofa......

Just checked Newegg, and big surprise, sold out. I was checking both Newegg and Amazon daily until it showed up for pre-order on Amazon first. That's what I get for thinking amazon could get them fast...
At least I got it for $175 with free two day shipping.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by jchiso

I got one today. They popped up in stock at NewEgg so I grabbed one with next-day delivery. Seems to run Client rather well. XBMC flies and Slingbox Desktop performs as expected. This will make a great travel companion ...

Do you know if it's able to play back Blu-rays? I'm also curious about 3D, but not as optimistic on that front.

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Do you know if it's able to play back Blu-rays? I'm also curious about 3D, but not as optimistic on that front.

I don't have any Blu-Ray media, but it does play 4K and 2K mkv and mp4 movie trailer files I downloaded ...

[Dargason]

So what's the verdict? Is this thing viable as an HD300 replacement? How well does it handle 1080i?

Newegg has them back in stock.

[mikejaner]

I take his comments to say it runs client well. I get mine next week from Newegg and will confirm.

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by Dargason

So what's the verdict? Is this thing viable as an HD300 replacement? How well does it handle 1080i?

Newegg has them back in stock.

Get one.

It plays 1080p and 1080i flawlessly. Windows 8.1 flies on this thing. Boot time is really short, reads and writes are fast. I've loaded Client and Placeshifter, in addition to XBMC, Slingplayer Desktop, VMWare Horizon Desktop, and Office 2013, as well as some hardware drivers and it still has 14.1 (of 24.5) GB free disk storage.

Now all I need to do is find or re-deploy another Server license ...